Patent GB-556907-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to electric dry batteries
IPC: H01M50/489
Filed: 1942-03-19
Abstract: 556,907. Galvanic batteries. WILKINSON. G. H. March 19, 1942. No. 3666. [Class 53] In a dry battery of the kind comprising flat cells arranged face to face, a number of electrolyte cell elements, or a number of groups of cell elements each containing an electrolyte element, are arranged in a common sheath of flexible electrolyte-resisting dielectric material which is so perforated and so applied that each element or group is enclosed in a separate compartment with portions of the faces of the elements or groups exposed through the apertures, the cell elements or groups being held together under pressure so that the sheath substantially prevents escape of electrolyte from one cell to another and contact between the cells occurs through the perforations. The battery shown in Fig. 6 comprises cells each composed of a rectangular tablet 11, Fig. 3, of depolarizing material having a protuberance 12 on the outer face, and a gauze pad 13 soaked with electrolyte and having a thin layer 14 of electrolyte paste in intimate contact with the zinc surface of a composite carbon-zinc element formed by a zinc plate 15 with an adherent coating 16 of carbon. The cell wrapping comprises a strip 17, Fig. 1, of flexible electrolyte-resisting dielectric sheet material with two rows of perforations 18, 19. The cell elements are laid over the perforations 19, alternately with the tablet 11 and the carbon layer 16 uppermost, and the strip 17, which may be of adhesive-coated rubber or synthetic rubber compound, is folded over the upper faces of the elements along the lines 20, 21. The opposite portions of the strip between the cells are then pressed together as at 17a, Fig. 4, a space preferably being left along the edges of the cells to permit breathing, for which purpose the strip may be fluted where necessary. The strip is then folded at the portions 17a in a zig-zag manner, to form the block of cells shown in Fig. 6, contact between the cells being provided by the protuberant portions 12 of the tablets 11, which project through the openings 18, 19 in the strip. The assembly is completed by end conducting plates 22, 23 with terminal lugs 24, 25. The assemblage is compressed and bound with a strip 28. The cell wrapping strip 17 may alternately be of bitumen coated paper, adhesion being caused by heat and pressure. In a modification, the portions 17a are sufficiently wide to lie between adjacent cells when the strip is folded, and are perforated to provide contact between the cells. In further forms, the depolarizing tablet and gauze pad 13 are arranged in one compartment and the carbon-zinc element is in another. or is merely internosed between the wrapped elements during folding to the zig-zag formation. The carbon-zinc element may be of dished form so that its edges enclose the edges of the other cell elements. Batteries mav be formed by rows of sheathed elements placed face to face. or of a long row folded to a zig-zag formation in which each limb comprises a number of cells. The sheath may be formed of two strips the edges of which overlap over an area to each side of the centre line of the row of cells.